A Life Once Lived
by MimiMomo-chan
Summary: Kagome thought she had everything. A good job, a best friend, a nice apartment. But then a stranger steps into her life, turning her world upside down and showing her what she's missing in life.


Don't sue, cuz I don't own Inu-Yasha, never will, and don't want to (the last part was a bit of a lie…) And I don't own Prada or Neiman Marcus. sigh

Kagome sighed as her eyes looked outside the window. She and Tokyo did not agree. When Kagome was happy, Tokyo poured down rain, hail, sleet, snow and whatever else was up there. When she was sad, Tokyo had its rare sunny day, when people chose to mow their lawns and take nice long relaxing picnics at the beach. But today, Kagome and Tokyo seemed to make peace. She was sad, and Tokyo was pouring down water like there was no tomorrow.

"It really makes me wonder why I'm so sad," chuckled Kagome to herself. Somedays, she remembered, when she was young and in kindergarden, she used to burst out crying over the stupidest things. Like who got the doll with the pink dress. Kagome frowned to herself as she let her straight hair down from her ponytail and sighed. "Of course I know why I'm upset," she mused as the rain came down harder and harder. "I'd only be lying to myself if I denied it."

A shrill ring came from her pocket. Fumbling, she reached for her cell phone and answered the call. She had no idea who it was from, but it was such a habit, reaching for your phone (besides, she had gotten a really nice ring tone the other day even thought it probably wasn't worth the money).

"Hello?" asked Kagome.

"Kagome," said a voice on the other end. "It's Sango. You've got to get here. Now. Your father wants to see you. Hurry up."

Kagome groaned. Her father? Her company (which was kind of her father's but since he put her as head of a department who really cared)? Those two were like a match and gasoline. "Is it important? Like deathly important? Me and you losing our jobs important? The world exploding-and-only-I-can-save-it important?"

She could almost hear Sango rolling her eyes. "No, Kagome. Yes you moron! Of course you are! Idiot, get here before your father destroys all the Neiman Marcus furniture! Do you know how much that cost? Well, then again, it really didn't cost that much….THAT'S NOT THE POINT!"

"Kay," muttered Kagome before pulling herself out of the comfy beanbag she had been sitting in. "Bye." She flipped her cell shut and grabbed her briefcase. Slipping into a pair of shoes, she left her apartment.

When Kagome reached her office, she sighed again. 'I really have to get an office on a lower floor,' she reminded herself. Kagome was the head of the Legal Department at the Higurashi Shikon Corp., owned by her father. The building was magnificent, but unluckily for Kagome (the world's greatest hater of walking up stairs in Prada heels) the elevator was jammed that day and her office was on the thirty-third floor. Groaning, she reached her office and pushed open the door to find her father sitting at her desk with his designer Prada suit and shoes.

"Dad," she said coldly setting her briefcase on the floor. Kagome wasn't the greatest admirer of her father. He flitted through her childhood, and at age twenty-one, boosted her to head of the Legal Department because the tabloid scandals were getting to be too much. "What?"

Her father cut to the chase. "Kagome, looking at statistics," he shuffled papers around, "it seems that the Legal Department needs some help. Our liability claims have risen twelve percent since 2000. What's going on? So, I'm sending someone from Youkai Kokusai Inc. to help."

Kagome narrowed her eyes. "Please Dad, I can handle it. We've just been a little busy that's all and people these days are almost as stupid as you. Almost. Anyway, most are just looking to make a quick buck from us. Besides, Youkai Kokusai Inc.? That's one of our biggest competitors. You can't possibly convince one of them to come work for us."

Her father grinned. "Haven't been watching the news Kagome? We're merging. Since we're the two biggest banks in all of Japan, it's best to cut out the competition. Now, we're planning to do this in a subtle way. Meanwhile, you're going to be paired with someone from Youkai Kokusai Inc. okay? He'll be arriving tomorrow, and I hope you make him feel welcome. Since it's so important, I'll even overlook the fact that you weren't paying attention to the merger. All employess should have known about it."

"Does it matter if I have any objections?" asked Kagome wryly. When her father shook his head, she muttered, "Thought so. Bet he's a big fart bag. Really ugly and eighty years old. Like you. Plus, I don't really care about this merger. You hired me out of pity."

"But of course," said her father. "Nevertheless I think you'll be pleasantly surprised."

Kagome tried to smile, but inside she was resisting the urge to shove her father out her office and through the glass windows on the landing. But she smiled sweetly. "I hate surprises Father. And if you'd been there in my life, you'd know that." She all but dragged her father through the thirty-third floor and dumped him in the elevator.

"And so that's what happened," sighed Kagome digging a fork quite violently into her oden. "I can't believe my Dad doesn't trust me. I mean, I'm his daughter! He treat's Kikyo better!"

Sango blanched as oden sauce sprayed over her crisp, white shirt. "Well, Kagome, Kikyo is your fourth cousin by marriage, three times removed." Dabbing her shirt with a napkin, Sango shrugged. "Plus, if you've been reading the news, she skipped two grades in high school and one in college, she's one of Japan's Most Eligible Singles, and she has a new contract with some beauty chain. And she's **nice**." Sango let the word drag out slowly.

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Nice? To you perhaps, but most certainly not to me. Most people don't even know their fourth cousin…. I have bad short-term memory. Whatever. The point is, I bet he just made that crap all up, just to get her promoted faster."

"Kikyou looks like you Kagome," pointed our Sango dipping her spoon into her FroYo. "A lot like you. It's creepy, but maybe you've got to face the facts that you guys are related."

"Probably Dad's illegitimate daughter," replied Kagome without flinching. "He's fooled around, and he'd better not be denying it. Anyway how much you want to bet the person from Youkai Kokusai Inc. really is the world's biggest fart. Ever. Bet he's got no hair, he's fat and he's got bad breath. How much are you betting?"

Sango cocked her head to one side. "Um…a shopping spree at whatever store you want? Including a spa trip and lunch? I bet he's not. Maybe he's nice."

Kagome looked warily at Sango. "I want to know your secret," she demanded. Sango blinked innocently. "I'm head of Legal Services, but you still have more money than me and your tons and tons nicer, not to mention more elegant."

Sango laughed. "You're not the only one with totally, unbelievably rich parents. As for the part of nice, I was raised with manners, and as far as elegant goes, you'd be farther than I if only you'd stop having those bratty tantrums of yours." She frowned. "Though I do think mine are a bit less icy. Then again, don't tell your parents that, or I'll be fried. Or rather, fired, and my parents will totally go ballistic if that happens. They keep on going 'Sango, you need a job, for experience.'" She snorted. "Although I doubt they'd be happy with me working at a burger joint, even though as Kohaku pointed out, it is experience."

Kagome nodded only half-paying attention. Her mother was the Ice Queen while her father was Mr. I-have-a poker-face-on-and-you'll-never-get-met-to-take-it-off. "I wonder how I didn't turn out like that. Ya know? Iced and glazed over like an ice cream cake?"

Sango shrugged. "You have me, you kickbutt, beautiful, totally amazing friend."

Kagome glared at Sango as Sango gave her an annoying grin. "I think that's as much curse as blessing Sango."

Kagome cursed as she stuck her alarm clock. It was given to her by her late grandmother, and was one of her prized possessions. But at this moment, she would have been blissfully happy to throw it against the wall and do a victory dance. Sighing, she opened her eyes and gasped. It was 8:49.

"Damn," she muttered ruefully as she snapped her hair into a ponytail and slipped into a pair of black pants. Struggling to put on her pink blouse, she threw it off in disgust. She had eleven minutes to get to work. Sighing, she threw on a blue tank top and a demin blazer. Dashing out the door, she grabbed her purse and drove to work like an escapee from a mental asylum. She reached her office after leaving three near miss-and-hits, and two slight collisions later.

Panting, she ran to office and checked her watch. 9:00. Giving a sigh of relief, Kagome relized her belly was rumbling. She picked up her phone.

"Hey Sango?" Kagome frowned as she heard static in the background.

"Kagome?" said Sango's strained voice in the background. "Can you call back? Is this important?"

"No, not at all." Kagome hung up and grabbed her yellow coffee mug. She needed a piece of toast, and some coffee wouldn't hurt. Walking down the long hallway, she finally stopped at the mini café. She filled her cup and snatched some croissants.

Walking back to her office, she groaned. She saw the outline of her father talking to two men. Sighing, and cursing the men in her office, she opened the door and put on her brightest smile.

Good, bad? For my other stories, eh, sorry I didn't update…kind of well lost inspiration. But I

promise I'll try to update for this one. Please give me your favorite pairings.  They'll be used!


End file.
